2006.05.16

It's no secret that Elisa and I haven't been going to church. My
parents really want us to, and a lot of other people really think we
should, but we don't. We've been invited, and we've tried a few
churches around, but we still can't bring ourselves to go.

For a while, we blamed it on the burnout and the painful end of our own
church plant in North Carolina. We just needed a break. But pretty
soon, that break turned into a lengthy hiatus that got really
comfortable. So I really started to contemplate the reasons we think we
should go to church. For a long time, I was one of those people who
wanted others to go to church--hopefully my church--so I understand the
arguments for it and really wanted to get to the bottom of it all.

2006.05.09

As the parent of a nearly-premature child, as well as a current recipient of public health assistance for my children, this story appalled me.

Apparently, the U.S. is tied for 32nd out of 33 industrialized nations when it comes to infant mortality rate. Only Latvia is worse.

The atrocity here is not the rate itself (5 per 1000 is not bad compared to 59 in Iraq and 60 in Afghanistan) but rather the fact that we are the wealthiest nation in the world and we cannot provide adequate health care for our poorest people.

I'm pretty fed up with the health care situation in this country right now. I have to pay nearly $600 per month for health coverage that does not include my children, who must rely on the extremely inadequate and cumbersome bureaucracy that is Medicaid. And I'm not poor! There are hard-working people in this country who simply cannot afford basic hospitalization coverage, much less prenatal care.

Sorry to get on this soap box, but I was literally stunned by this report. It seems obvious to me that as followers of Jesus we have a huge responsibility to take care of the poor and to take care of children. I think it's time we figure out a solution.

2006.05.02

It's back to the land of the living for me. I can't believe the length of time that has elapsed since my last post. I doesn't seem that long ago, yet it also seems like a lifetime. Since my last post, I've sung in 7 concerts, conducted one, attended 3, been on a week-long choir tour, written a major research paper, completed three major projects, and who knows what else. Now all I have left is one more concert, a project in Renaissance Performance Practice, and an exam in Advanced Science and Pedagogy of Singing. (I have to chuckle when I type that, because I'm imagining the contorted faces of people reading the titles of those classes and thinking to themselves..."wha??")

Anyway, there should be more posts forthcoming, as I have a few weeks off before summer classes start. Once they do, I should still be able to post frequently since the schedule will be a little lighter.